North Dakota Taxable Sales And Purchases Sets Record; "Billion" With A "B"

The Bismarck Tribune added this story to the earlier story (see below); numbers rounded:

Bismarck’s taxable sales and purchase were up 12 percent to $1.7 billion for 2012. Mandan’s were up 18 percent to $230 million.

Williston’s 2012 taxable sales and purchase surpassed Fargo’s by more than $600 million, Fong said: “That’s pretty remarkable.”

Minot is on the heels of catching Bismarck with $1.5 billion collected. Bismarck City Administrator Bill Wocken said the city is “pleased with the activity” in Bismarck, which was growing pre-oil boom and has continued since at an even higher rate.

The Dickinson Press is reporting:

North Dakota’s taxable sales and purchases climbed more than $5 billion, or 28.7 percent, from 2011 to 2012, according to an annual report released Wednesday.

The report, issued by the state tax department, found that during the fourth quarter of 2012 — October, November and December — North Dakota’s taxable sales and purchases were $6.74 billion, up 9.7 percent from $6.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011. The 2012 calendar year saw more than $25.29 billion, a 28.7 percent jump from $19.6 billion in 2011.

The four major population cities — Bismarck, Fargo, Grand Forks and Minot — reported growth for 2012 ranging from 9 percent in Fargo, a total of $2.64 billion, to 18.3 percent in Minot, $1.6 billion. These four cities alone reported taxable sales and purchases of $7.29 billion, an increase of $771 million over 2011, the report said.  

Unless I missed it, Williston was not mentioned in The Dickinson Press story, but Williston was mentioned in The Bismarck Tribune story:

The biggest growth is coming from western North Dakota's oil-producing region. Taxable sales and purchases in Williams County totaled $4.6 billion for the year, up more than 43 percent, data show.

The city of Williston, where the official population count is pegged at 26,697, had more taxable sales and purchases during the year than Fargo, North Dakota's biggest city with a population of more than 107,000. Williston, in the heart of the state's oil patch, recorded $3.51 billion in taxable sales and purchases during 2012, compared with Fargo's $2.6 billion.

So:

• Fargo, Bismarck, Grand Forks, and Minot combined: $7.3 billion
• Williston: $3.5 billion